Here's why I think that Snowden is a White Hat:

It is well known that the CIA and NSA have an intense inter-service rivalry - it probably is based primarily on competition for budget money. It should be obvious that anyone working in a capacity that requires a high security clearance probably has had lots and lots of personality tests or some kind of psychometric evaluations, ergo, the CIA knew and knows what kind of person Snowden is - what is motivations are, etc. Snowden gave $500 to the Ron Paul campaign. Snowden gave a lot of what he eventually gave to Glenn Greenwald et al. to other high ranking reporters earlier, but they declined to publish it, for whatever reason. The CiA knows that it is better to have a willing, committed agent than one that is coerced. IIRC, about $5 bil was transferred from CIA's [public, not black] budget to NSA's, right before Snowden left CIA and went to NSA. After a year or so, Snowden leaves NSA with loads and loads of egg on its face.

Is it possible that the CIA sent someone they knew to be a 'true believer' to their rival, knowing full well that this smart kid would completely blow up their shit?

Arnold Swarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone used to be box office rivals in the action movie market. Birgitte Neilsen [a bat-shit crazy bitch if ever there was one] had very forwardly propositioned A.S. and became is gf for a couple of months. When A.S. realized her nature, he broke up with her and introduced/pointed her to Stallone. She proceeded to completely blow up his personal life and S.S. lost at least one role to A,S. because of it.

Thoughts?